The new president and vice president of the USD No. 480 Board of Education were selected at Monday night’s meeting.

The first order of business was nominating and approving board appointments. The previous president, Delvin Kinser, nominated Chris Jewell to be president for the 2014-2015 school year. The nomination was seconded by board member Matt Friederich, and the appointment was approved by the board 6 to 0, with Nick Hatcher absent.

After being appointed president, Jewell took over the meeting with the nominations for vice president.

Steve Helm nominated Friederich for vice president, which was seconded by Kinser. Friederich was voted in, 6 to 0.

Other appointments approved by the board were for the positions of board treasurer and assistant treasurer, Rhonda Crawford and Marnie Norton, respectively; clerk and assistant clerk, Jerry Clay and Renae Hickert; board attorney, Rick Yoxall; and board auditor, Hay, Rice & Associates. All appointees were approved 6 to 0.

The board then went on to approve the agenda. Before doing so, they removed Resolution 7-7-14, which accounted for the surveying and acquisition of land for the district to build new schools on. They did not have all the legal descriptions for the property in time for the meeting. They added Land Contracts in its place, which accounted for the change of board president.

“We now need to appoint Mr. Jewell to sign all official land contracts as was done with Mr. Kinser,” Business and Finance Director Jerry Clay said.

The first items under new business were Resolutions A through T; all had to do with preparations for the 2014-2015 school year. They stopped at N, which “appoints Board representatives to committees/councils,” according to the agenda.

Each board member was assigned to committees as follows:

• District Policy and Review – Hatcher, Matt Durler

• KASB Governmental Relations – Jewell, Friederich, Durler

• Curriculum – Jewell, Kinser, Helm

• Building Construction – Jewell, Helm, Hatcher

• Technology – Jewell, Helm, Friederich

• Transportation – Kinser, Hatcher, Friederich

• Child Nutrition and Wellness – Helm, Durler

• Calendar – Cauble, Kinser

• Early Childhood – Jewell, Kinser, Cauble

• District Crisis – Friederich, Durler

• Pre-Board – Jewell, Friederich

• Truancy – Helm

• IBB – Kinser, Friederich, Durler

• Success for All – Cauble, Helm

• Design Team for Elementary – Jewell, Hatcher, Durler

• Design Team for Middle School – Jewell, Hatcher, Durler.

Resolutions A through T were passed 7 to 0; Hatcher rejoined the board during the course of the meeting.

Another important item of discussion was the addition of a trip to Staff Travel. During his Superintendent Report, Paul Larkin talked about adding a trip for the new schools’ design team members to visit the prototype schools at Gardner and North Little Rock.

“We requested by DLR that we take another group of design (team) members to see the prototype schools in Gardner and also in North Little Rock,” Larkin said. “I really feel that, in this design development phase, it will really help some of those folks if they could actually get into those buildings.”

The trip would only last one day, in order to keep costs as low as possible. Larkin also wanted to keep the trip short to “accommodate those non-district folks who are off contract.” He did not wish to take people away from their families and jobs for an extended amount of time.

“I’m a firm believer that this is the most effective way to do it. It really, truly is,” Friederich said.

The board approved Staff Travel 6 to 1, with Helm voting no.

The last item of business was Land Contracts. The board approved giving Jewell the ability to sign official land contracts 7 to 0.

During board comments, Kinser acknowledged the board for giving him the opportunity to serve as president.

“It’s been a pleasure, the last two years, serving as your president. I look forward to just being a team member of the board,” Kinser said.

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The High Plains Daily Leader and Southwest Daily Times are published Sunday through Friday and reaches homes throughout the Liberal, Kansas retail trade zone. The Leader & Times is the official newspaper of Seward County, USD No. 480, USD No. 483 and the cities of Liberal and Kismet. The Leader & Times is a member of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and the Associated Press.

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